A Grand Day Out

Friday, March 11th was a very big day for me.  I got up early (for me) and did my packages, ran to the post office and then it was off to meet my friend Linda for lunch.  After a nice, long lunch with my recently funemployed friend (yay! more time for me!) I drove home and donned my iTorch t-shirt, grabbed a few moo cards and was off to stand in line at the Apple store in Los Gatos to get the new iPad 2.  I drove down the main street in Los Gatos and noted that the line was already quite long even though the store wasn't going to be open until 5pm and it was only 3pm!  I almost decided to just order online and wait the 2-3 weeks. 
I am so glad I didn't.
I parked the car, walked to the end of the line and thought how appropriate it was that the people directly in front of me had Segways.  I mean, nothing says technonerd like a Segway, right?  Then, just then, I stopped and stared and stopped breathing properly.
ZOMG.
I think I might be standing behind Steve Wozniak. (co-founder of Apple!!!!!)
I might have said something stupid like "are you who I think you are?"
He responded to my inane mumbling, "I know who I am, who do you think I am?"
"I think you might be Steve Wozniak." I said, without using any discernable oxygen.  In fact, I think I might have squeaked it.  What a winner I am.  Sheesh.
Anyway, he turned out to be a pretty swell guy.  Smarter than I can fathom and pretty engaging and witty.  I stood behind him for the next three and a half hours.  We chatted for quite a while and I am hoping I didn't sound like a complete moron for at least some of it.  I met his wife, Janet, too.  She was ridiculously smart and funny and kind of sarcastic.  I might have liked meeting her even more than Steve, if that's possible. 
I also met a handful of people in line and they were AWESOME too!  As you can imagine, meeting a Silicon Valley icon was kind of an icebreaker and the usually impenetrable personal space bubbles were immediately disolved and we were instantly bonded for life.  :)   We started a running commentary on the never ending stream of people wanting to meet and greet with The Woz.  And let's admit it, that's fun.  There were lots of great, laid back folks who wanted to just take a picture, shake hands and have a quick word.  And then there were the not-so-laid-back types.  Wow.  I'll just sum it up by saying that Steve and Janet are very gracious people who are clearly skilled at dealing with the public.
And yes, I got an iPad 2 and after waiting for that long, I was very grateful that they weren't sold out (which they did soon after I got one.)

That's me (in the green sweatshirt) and Woz is sitting and talking to me.  Can you believe it!!!?

Here's a photo of Steve Wozniak and his Segway.  He let that kid ride it for as long as he wanted.  How awesome is that?